The Forest's Songs

[Willowsong]

"I'll show you later alright? I want to check your wound first."

"Oki.", Willowsong replied, sitting down.

"Well, it's looking pretty good. Let's get it bandaged up again."

"Great. Can't wait to get this scratchy thing off me.", she said, although it sounded less like a complaint than an actual wishful phrase.

"Cawefwull, thwey awe hwot."

The witch carefully took the fish, looking at the smoke rising up from it. Without even asking, she dipped the fish into the cold water, and repeated this procedure until it seemed to have cooled enough. Of course, it had also become spongy during this but Willowsong didn't seem to mind.
"Ow.", she reported after her first bite, lowering the stick and putting her hand in her mouth, and pulling out a fishbone.
"What's this? That wasn't there yesterday! It's too thin to be a bone!"

[Talwyn]

Talwyn laughed when she pulled out the fish bone. "That's part of the fish silly. And you don't eat that. Look." He demonstrated to her how he carefully ate the fish, leaving all the bones. "See, you eat around it." Dropping the remains to the grounds, he grabbed a second fish and started eating that as well.

After finishing the second fish, he grabbed the bandages he had used earlier and started washing them in the stream. Wringing them dry, he placed them back in his first aid kit and looked for his improvised fishing pole. Finding it, he called Willowsong over and grabbed a worm.

Putting it on the hook, he showed it to her. "See, it's a fishing pole. The fish tries to eat the worm, and the hook gets caught in it's mouth." Throwing the hook in the water, he waited patiently for a bite and reeled it in. Taking the hook out, he put the fish back in the water. "See?"

[Willowsong]

"That's part of the fish silly. And you don't eat that. Look."

Willowsong watched as Talwyn demonstrated on how to eat fish. She frowned, and tried it herself. Being untrained in the way humans ate, she did so awkwardly and at the end, she had a broken piece of fish in her hand, but at least she had eaten some of.

Afterwards, Talwyn showed her how to fish. She watched with curiousity, but most of her attention was focused on the improvised fishing pole Talwyn used.
She had tried it as a lynx once, but she had gotten frustrated with those slippery things before long and returned to hunting walking animals.

As Talwyn pushed out the first fish, Willowsong frowned and touched her lips.
"That hook going through the fish's lips...doesn't that hurt? When I hunt...I immediately go for the throat and for a painless death..."

[Talwyn]

In response to her question Talwyn scoured his mind before finally shaking his head. "No... from what I remember there are no nerves there. No nerves means no pain. Of course, if the hook goes somewhere else it will hurt I suppose.

"I personally do not enjoy seeing animals suffer, but... I do need to eat. I try to make the kills as clean as possible, but this can't always be done. For fish, after taking them off the hook, I slam them to the ground to try and instantly kill them."

Looking at her, he smiled and shrugged. "I don't think about it too much though, to be honest." Holding up the rod and little box of worms he grinned. "If you're still , feel free to try it yourself."

[Willowsong]

"I personally do not enjoy seeing animals suffer, but... I do need to eat. I try to make the kills as clean as possible, but this can't always be done. For fish, after taking them off the hook, I slam them to the ground to try and instantly kill them."

Willowsong nodded, smiling.
"Good!", she exclaimed, before being offered the fishing rod. She looked at it funnily.

"If you're still , feel free to try it yourself."

The witch pursed her lips, looking at Talwyn.
"No, I'm good. Thanks, anyway."

She said, walking away. The fishbones had sated her appetite, and she wasn't keen on swallowing more of those.

As Willowsong looked up, she spotted a spider crawling into her cave. She beckoned Talwyn to be quiet, and pointed at the spider. Her face was turned away from Talwyn, so he couldn't see her expression.

[Talwyn]

Taking the line and hook of the rod, Talwyn carefully put them away. It was better to store them safely if no more fishing was needed, he had lost count of how many lines and hooks he had to throw away because he had just left it laying on the ground.


Noticing Willowsong's gesture to be quiet, he walked over silently and grabbed his sword as he noticed the spider. Standing behind her, it was impossible to see her face and he was unsure what she wanted to do. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he whispered a question. "Should I kill it?"

[Willowsong]

"Should I kill it?"

Willowsong turned around to look at Talwyn, terror on her face.
"What? No! No, no!", she whispered back, before turning back as the spider disappeared into the cave.

"That's Tyren... the latest... adventurer to fall victim to my curse.", she explained, sadly.
She crouched down, pulling her hands into her gown to warm them.

"He's still fighting against the curse... which is why he returns to my cave every once in a while to try to transform back..."
She paused to sigh.
"I cannot talk to him, or at least understand him in my current form..."

[Talwyn]

Sheathing the sword again, he looked at the unfortunate man. "Is there anyway for him to return to normal?" He asked looking a bit worried. For some reason, that part of curse did not affect him. Maybe it only affected humans, or non magical creatures. Still... it was rather unsettling to think that he might end up like that as well.

"When they are transformed like that..." He looked unsure of himself and he had to force himself to go on. "Are they... freed of the mind domination? Or are they still completely ensorcelled by you? And eh, I'd still advise against transforming. I'll check the wound tonight, but it's really for the best if you let it heal properly."

[Willowsong]

"Is there anyway for him to return to normal?"

Willowsong shook her head.
"No. At least...not to my knowledge.", she said with a sorrowful tone.

"When they are transformed like that..."

The witch turned to look at Talwyn, but her expression seemed blank.

"Are they... freed of the mind domination? Or are they still completely ensorcelled by you?"

"They are enslaved to my will. They get their will back once their mind becomes used to their new body and my magic, but even though they have a free will on where to go and what to do, they are still bound to me. If I was to be attacked, they would all return from the forest and defend me."

She turned back again, pulling one of her black hair strands.
"And me to them...", she added quietly.

Willowsong now sunk into a sitting position, turning to Talwyn again.
"Most of them have a family now. Not a human family, I mean."

She pointed at the cave again, as two smaller spiders, looking like they had just hatched, assembled around the adult spider, causing the witch to smile.
"Aren't they beautiful?"

[Talwyn]

A shiver went down Tal's spine. The idea of living the rest of his life in such a manner was not a very pleasant one. "I'm sorry... I just can't think of spiders as... beautiful. To me, they are icky and dangerous and often in the way of where I need to go. And with most of the encounters resulting in me having to fight them..."

He looked away, slightly embarressed as he knew Willowsong would not like that statement. In fact, he sort of hoped the spiders would leave. Not that he was afraid of them, but that didn't mean he had to like the critters. These creeped him out. If, for some reason, they'd attack him, he would be unable to fight back. Willowsong would never allow that he knew.

Sitting down next to her, he swung his arm around her. Which, in fact, surprised him. Why did he do that? Probably the curse, he mused. "So..." Unsure of what to say, he looked around, trying to think up something. "Have you been living here for a long time?"

[Willowsong]

"I'm sorry... I just can't think of spiders as... beautiful. To me, they are icky and dangerous and often in the way of where I need to go. And with most of the encounters resulting in me having to fight them..."

Willowsong frowned, clenching her jaw.
"They're beautiful creatures...", she insisted, looking as the spiders slowly walked off again.
"And there they go...Bye Tyren...", she muttered, wiping her eyes as if she was crying.

"Have you been living here for a long time?"

"For as long as I can remember...", she replied quietly, ignoring the fact that he was laying his arm around him.
"This forest is all I know.", the witch added, looking at the near-by trees with her green eyes as if to emphasise her statement.
"If I tried to leave, villagers would always throw stones at me or threaten me with fire..."

[Elf Prince Tekkarro]

James trudged through the forest, wading through the beauty of the leaves and wildlife, the lush green constrasting deeply iwith the midnight black of his clothing, hair, and the bags under his eyes told the story of insomnia all too well. He swung his sword over his back, finished with clearing a path through the deep woodland. A voice growledin the back of his head. "Why must we go through here? It's filthy and disgusting." James smirked, tired but confident. "Because Gilashi, In my short time as a mercenary, I have heard rumors of a mystical shrine somewhere in this very forest that if you pray long and hard enough, you will be blessed and any curses will be removed. James smiled and closed his eyes, allowing the breeze to blow over him. "I do not know if you count as a curse my friend, but a demon certainly will not enjoy being in a holy place that long now will he?" he inquired, laughign bitterly to himself. The voice laughed a dark, silky yet granite chuckle. "Oh James, you should know by now. We're practically brothers, I'm a part of you. Your body, my body, it's all the same." James sneered and ignored him, moving on and pressing further into the brush. He had lived with Gilashi for years, since his father told him why he had been secluded from other children, not allowed to go to school, and cruelest of all, why he had not been allowed to see t he sun for so many years, and why he appeared so stunningly different then the other elves. His father, who sacrificed his son's freedom to save the land. His father was a great hero, a perect ...But as a father he...he... "Sucks," a voice offered from inside of his mind. James nodded. "Exactly."

James finally came to a large clearing, rushing forward, exhausted, hoping to se the fabled hsrine, but seeing only couple of people sitting in the middle of it. He sighed and dropped to his knees, taking a brief rest, feeling hopeless. GIlashi laugehd once more inside of him. "Oh come on kid, it's hopeless! Hey, I know what will cheer ME up, let's go butcher some guards, come on it will be fun!" James was quickl angered, trying to contorl his inner demon, but forgot his present company and screamed, punching the dirt wildly, his hair lfickering silver and his eyes glowing an unhealthy blood red as he formed a giant crater int he middle of the dirt. As he panted over the newly formed hole, his hair draped in front of his face caked in dirt, he swept it to the side and got back to his feet, looking up embarassed at the two who had most likely spotted his poor management of anger. "Um..pardon me..." he muttered.

[Willowsong]

((Talwyn is inactive at the moment, so his character sort of wandered off for now))

Talwyn went into the wild later on, saying he would collect some firewood and lay some traps for later. Willowsong then sat by herself, watching the small creek in front of her cave flow.

Willowsong jumped to her feet as she spotted a newcomer. An elf, by the looks of it. Normally, she would have accepted his presence, but he was yelling at nobody in particular, and Willowsong didn't like being around several people at once. At least, once Talwyn would return, they would be 'several.

"Um..pardon me..."

"...hello.", the witch said, pressing her clothes against her pale skin as she regarded the elf.
She looked around, grimacing. She didn't like the aura of this one. Physically, he seemed harmless enough, but he had this strange... 'evil' feel about him. But there was also another, more 'good' feel...
Willowsong had never felt anything like it before.
"Who...are you?", she asked, her vivid green eyes regarding him closer as she tilted her head.

[Elf Prince Tekkarro]

James regarded the woman, staring into her eyes. He couldn't tell what it was but for some reason, he did not feel the need to lie about his origin, at least not to her. "I am Prince James Tekkarro o f the City of Glerindrel, the NOrthernmost Elven city." he stated bluntly, bowing before her, reverting back to his manners as a gentleman, but snapping himself back to his facade of the rough mercenary he was to become if he were to survive. He stood straight and alert once more, eyeing the stranger trying to detect any weakness or more importantly, any weapon. He saw none of either, in fact, she seemed normal as any other human. But there was something...off...about her. He grasped his sword hilt, more for comfort then as a show of agression. "And who are you, one who would live among the forest as such?" he inquired, gazing at the clearing.

[Willowsong]

"I am Prince James Tekkarro of the City of Glerindrel, the Northernmost Elven city."

"A Prince?", Willowsong repeated, an unsure smile appearing on her lips. "What brings an elven prince to these lands?"

His polite demeanour changed, and he suddenly touched the hilt of his sword, causing Willowsong's smile to disappear and take a step back. Her eyes narrowing, she listened to his next words.

"And who are you, one who would live among the forest as such?"

"I am called Sha'ira by you Elves, but Humans call me Willowsong... They call me a witch, if you must know."

The witch was wary of this stranger. He seemed nice at times, but there was also this aura of evil, or the way his personality seemed to change several times. Perhaps he had been exiled by his people for his strange mentality?